Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday April 14, 2011

As a young new born Christian I learned the value of stating things that are common sense and therefore often overlooked; in different and preferably humorous ways from Dr. Tom Wallace, though in those early days he was Brother Tom or on formal occasions Pastor Wallace, said with a reverence reserved for visiting royalty.

I lost count of the times I heard him tell a congregation of no-collar workers, we couldn't afford shirts with collars, bits of wisdom from the hills around Odd, West Virginia the fertile soil of his birth,

"Never trouble Trouble, til Trouble troubles you."

The statement was uttered with such passion that many of us thought it was surely part of the original cannon, though we couldn't find it in our Strong's Concordance. I recall attributing it to Paul in one of my early radio programs. All existing recordings of my early broadcasts have been destroyed. At least I hope they have been.

I think the idea of the pithy saying implied that it's best to leave trouble alone as enough of it will come along naturally.

He used another that I now learn Daniel Defoe borrowed from him and it is very good to recall and practice if/when trouble does seek you out, as according to Job is surely will as we are assured in Job 5:7:

Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

When this natural perfect storm hits your life and those whom you love, Defoe's words are very good to remember and to put this principle into practice is of the utmost importance:

"In trouble to be troubled is to have your trouble doubled."

Most of us know the truth of Defoe's word to the wise. It is bad enough to be going through times of trouble, but to be "troubled" in mind heart or even spirit is counterproductive. Trouble can be prayed through, thought through and in most cases lived through. I find no record of trouble being successfully "worried" through.

To be "troubled" ie, be full of anxious care, worry, imagines the reality of the trouble to be much larger than it really is and to also denigrate the power and goodness of the Lord. Jesus said in John 14:1:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

The Greek has it, (Southern Text), "Now don't you worry your little head about it, you trust in God, trust me too, cause everything is alright in Father's place."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with Credit

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